Currently, beverages such as milk, juice and water and/or other liquids can be sold to consumers in plastic bags. In the present application, the term “milk bags” refers to plastic bags that hold milk for sale. Milk bags are typically filled with milk at a production location and then placed into crates for shipping to a retail or wholesale location for display and/or sale.
A representative example of a crate well known in the prior art is milk crate 100, which is plastic molded as illustrated in FIG. 1. Other milk crates of similar size and construction can be constructed of corrugated cardboard. Milk crates which hold milk bags 104 typically have a rigid frame, being square or rectangular in shape, and when such crates are stacked one crate sits on the upper edges of the side walls of the crate below. Thus, each side wall 102 supports a load from the crate(s) stacked above. It is possible to employ a collapsible crate instead, but these are not generally used because they can be labour intensive to employ. In general milk crates are not considered to be very pleasing from an esthetic point of view to consumers.
Another means of shipping, displaying and selling milk bags is shelving unit 200 illustrated in FIG. 2 which is typically constructed of metal. Shelving unit 200 consists of a frame 202 and one or more shelves 204 connected to the frame. The frame, generally, may include four vertical legs 206, which allow each shelf to be attached to the legs at each corner of the shelf. Wheels 208 can be connected to a bottom side of a bottom shelf to provide mobility. Milk bags can be placed on shelves 204 for display and sale to a consumer. Each metal shelf, except the lowest shelf, may be folded up so that a shelf underneath can be loaded. The shelves are kept in the up position by means of a pull pin. The pull pin can unintentionally slide out of its guide allowing the shelf to fall from the up position.
Depending on the volume of milk bags sold, retailers of milk bags may need to store and have on band multiple milk crates or shelving units for display to the customers in their stores. Prior art milk crates and shelving units can take up a lot of space which means that significant amount of valuable storage and display space can be taken up at a retailer. Furthermore, such prior art crates and shelves can also take up a lot of space when empty and not in use. Storage and transportation of empty milk crates and shelving units back to milk producers can also lead to an inefficient use of valuable space.
Rigid frame milk crates and shelving units also have the disadvantage of being less likely to be returned to milk producers for reuse. Rigid frame milk crates take up a lot of space when stacked. Milk bag shelving units can also lead to an inefficient use of space when transported back to a milk producer for reuse.